"Of course. We've always trusted each other, haven't we?"
"Yeah, yeah." he said, just hating any reference I made to our being like brother and sister, if not close cousins. "I don't mean that keep-a-secret kid stuff."
"What do you mean. Harley?"
"I mean what I felt and thought when you told me what had happened to you. I know I should have been most upset about what he had done, but what bothered me the most is hearing you went for a walk with another boy at night. You thought you might have a nice summer romance, didn't you?" he asked in a very accusatory tone of voice.
"Harley Arnold," I said growing indignant. "I don't see how that's your business."
"Of course it is," he said. "I was hoping you and I would have had the summer romance, a summer romance that would have gone on into the fall and long after that," he blurted. "Sorry," he quickly added before I could speak. "Sorry I bothered you. Sorry I bother everybody," he muttered and started quickly away.
"Harley!" I called after him, but he kept walking. I felt the frustration raging inside me and stomped my foot. fuming.
And they say girls are hard to understand. I thought.
I went back into the house and up to my room where I stood by the window and looked for him in the darkness below. I didn't see him anywhere. and I was too tired to keep looking.
He didn't come by the next day, but the afternoon after that. Harley joined Mommy and me on the rear patio and just sat watching us do needlepoint. He said "Hi." and Mommy said "Hi" and smiled at him. but I just gave him a look and kept working. He and Mommy started to talk about the weather and then his work. He glanced at me occasionally. but I concentrated on my needlepoint. Finally, he said, he had heard from one of the colleges to which he had made a late application.
I looked up expectantly, but he didn't add anything.
"Well, Harley Arnold," I finally said. 'don't just sit there keeping us guessing. What did they say?"
"They said I could come around and learn some stuff, if I wanted."
"What?"
"That's wonderful, Harley," Mommy said.
"Learn some stuff? What kind of an admission to college is that?"
He
shrugged.
"Let's not make a big deal of it," he said. "It's just one of those community colleges "
"It's still an opportunity, Harley," Mommy said. "Don't waste it."
He nodded and lowered his eyes for a moment like a subdued puppy. Then he looked up at me sharply and smiled. I couldn't help but laugh.
A moment later Uncle Roy came around the corner of the house and stopped, very surprised to see Harley sitting there.
"What are you doin' here now?" he demanded without saying hello to anyone.
Harley fidgeted in his chair.
"Nothing," he said.
"Nothing? You ain't supposed to be off the project this early."
"Jerry said he was finished with the Sheetrock for the day," Harley replied.
"So? What about Bob Matthews? I told you I wanted you with him as much as possible so you could learn more about electrical work. I spent all that time talking him into letting you be his apprentice. You'd get a lot more done than just sitting here watchin' a couple of women do needlepoint. What are you goin' to be, a seamstress?'
Harley turned two shades of red, one darker than the other. "He's not bothering us," Mommy said.
"That's a relief, but he's not on the job he's supposed to be on either."